Recognition, Resolve and Relaxing

The word of the week is alacrity.

Feb 24 - Vertical Mice?

After much searching, I've at last found a mouse that's different.

For many years, I have used a Logitech trackball instead of a mouse, finding it more versatile in daily desktop use than trying to shove the mouse around a semi-stable surface.

Called a vertical mouse, it's been rather tricky to find one that's both highly-rated AND not ungodly expensive: from highs of over $100, I scored one from Perixx for $20 all told.

The essential difference between a regular mouse and a vertical mouse is that the user's hand position is much more natural. When using a normal mouse with buttons located on the top, the user's wrist is twisted to one side, which is not a relaxed position and puts pressure on the tendons, leading to fatigue:

My mouse is similar, but the idea's the same: less arm strain

In my case, using a trackball was no better, as my hand was not actually resting but instead hovered above the trackball for the most part, supported by the outer two fingers of my hand more often than not. Needless to say, using it in that position wasn't all that comfortable for long periods of time.

I've been using the Perixx 713 vertical mouse for about a week now and I have to say that I really like it. Apart from the need to have a small area on the couch for movement, it works on any surface, which is fantastic. While using the mouse on surfaces other than a desktop isn't ideal, for the most part it works and I'll figure things out as I get used to it. The important part is that it's already made my wrist feel less fatigued as I use my computer and that's the vital part.

Feb 25 - Farwell, Egon

A great comedian has unexpectedly passed on.

Harold Ramis, star of such seminal films as Ghostbusters, Stripes, Groundhog Day and many other others that are cultural touchstones passed away at the age of 69 today.

'Goodbye Egon' by local Victoria artist Ash Vickers

Part of a Saturday Night Live group of comedians who transitioned successfully from television to movie fame, news of his unexpected death today was rather shocking to me.

I grew up with Mr. Ramis on the silver screen, so to speak, starting with the blockbuster film Ghostbusters and then discovering his wide range in many other films since. His gentle humor, impeccable comedic timing and creative spark all meant that this star will be sorely missed. I especially liked his small cameo role in Groundhog Day as a doctor who tends to Bill Murray; small roles like that showcased his wonderful versatility and likable sense of humor.

We should all be so lucky to remembered so fondly, should we pass too soon.

Feb 26 - Don't Grow up

More excellent advice came from Neil Gaiman today.

I stumbled across it during an Internet search and it jumped out at me like a blazing signpost. The odd thing was, I was just thinking about how the life of an author can sometimes be divorced from reality and yet at the same time deeply involved in its observation.

I was also thinking about how life of an author more often than not doesn't mesh well with the reality of life as an adult. Creating your own worlds doesn't often pay the bills and quite a few authors have struggled in their lives while balancing their financials with their fiction.

In my case, I'd just like to make a living being creative and not selling people things they don't need.

Feb 27 - Aaron Allston

Another bright light went out of the world this week.

Aaron Allston was an American science fiction author and game designer who wrote or designed many of the things that I grew up with, including some parts of the Car Wars world. He was well known for the Star Wars books that he wrote in the X-Wing series, all of which I own and still enjoy from time to time. The reaction of the gaming community has been touching, as many there saw Aaron as wholly one of their own.

Aaron contributed regularly to ADQ, which I read as a teenager. And still do.

What I found most interesting was that Mr. Allston's passing was noted by several authors that I also admire: R.A.Salvatore and Michael A. Stackpole were good friends with Mr. Allston. It's though-provoking that the same small group of authors whose work I find admirable and who are also genuinely likable human beings should strike up friendships that last decades; that sort of thing tells me that I'm admiring their work for the right reasons.

As for Aaron, I hope he's been put back into the universe somehow to foster the circle of creativity a little more. I think that be fitting.

Feb 28 - AUTHORQUEST TOP 25!

Some GREAT news came down the pipe early today!

As many of you know, I put an entry into the Dark Crystal AuthorQuest contest at the end of 2013, submitting a story in hopes of having it picked up to be developed into a novel by the Jim Henson Company. As there were nearly 500 submissions in the contest, the judges had to take the last two months to read every entry thoroughly and the news of the top 25 choices were supposed to be released March 1, 2014 which was tomorrow.

But, they released them today and MY NAME was one of the 20 Editor's Choice picks!

That's ME at the bottom there! :-)

Now, that means I didn't make Final Five, which means I'm out of the running for the novel and the $10,000 contract, but that's all right. I'm extraordinarily thrilled to have had my work recognize out of such a large field of submissions; I made it into the top 5%, which is unbelievable!

Here's the feedback my story received: brief but very telling:

From the first line, I was right in there - seeing, smelling and feeling every word that was written.

While not everyone needs validation, as a writer you definitely need feedback, especially that from people who don't know you personally. Your writing should to be able to move strangers as well as friends, to convey in words everything that you are trying to say without being physically present to say it.

Getting noticed by the judges of the Dark Crystal AuthorQuest is a wonderful thrill for me and goes to show that my authorial hard work can take me places. I just have to keep improving and not give up; I now know that the creative spark lives within me and my writing is the kind that other people want to read.

March 1 - New Month, New Goals

Yesterday's wonderful news means I can start March with some better goals in mind.

Apart from completing my novel this spring, I do want to transition to freelance work of some kind. It seems to me that in my research of those who create themselves as successes, they never really stop working except to sleep and relax once or twice a month as rewards for their hard work.

Writing is much the same way: if you don't write every day, you can't expect to improve enough over a given time to be satisfied with continuing to put words to paper. I have to ingrain in myself the habit of writing every day, creating something new or editing something already in place: every time I write I should be moving myself forward, which is what I have to do for myself at this point in my life.

Maybe I should run away and join a circus?

Another goal of mine is to exit my current workplace as soon as possible, as each day there is becoming increasingly stressful for me. My employer treats me as though I'm fully trained, highly motivated by the leadership team and well-paid... except that I'm NONE of those things.

Thus, several of my workdays in the last few weeks have been extremely difficult for me to bear up under. I'm extraordinarily intelligent, highly empathetic and hard-working, but being spoken to as though I am a brand-new employee who can't figure out how to open the store's front door is not something I can put up with for very much longer. I've already had enough of working under tin gods to last a lifetime from my previous jobs.

When I'm self-employed, I'll have nobody to blame for a bad day but myself.

March 2 - Games and Strange Brew

Today I attended a gaming convention and a movie festival!

In the afternoon, I walked to the nearby convention center to spend a few hours at GottaCon, which is an annual gaming extravaganza held here in Victoria. There's a heavy emphasis on miniatures as well as video games, neither of which hold much interest for me at a competitive level but seemed to make close to 4,000 other people quite happy. There were several dozen vendors( to not buy things from )as well as a fair number of tables dedicated to other games, both of the board and role-playing variety.

I ended up chatting with a writerly friend of mine for a few hours there, as she is quite busy putting out both games she's designed and novels she's written under her own flag. The latter is definitely something I have to learn how to do, so it's great to have friends like her around. Being full of energy also helps too.

Around dinnertime, I trotted on over to the Vic Theatre next door for a double movie feature being put on by the annual Great Canadian Beer Fest. The first film was appropriately titled Beerfest, which was a romping farcical comedy dedicated to a far-fetched premise revolving around a secret beer competition much akin to the film Fight Club but without the serious aspects. There was a lot of gratuitous yet harmless nudity and despite that, I found myself liking the film in the end as it made me laugh.

Which brought us to the second film: Strange Brew starring Bob and Doug McKenzie aka Rick Moranis  and Dave Thomas. This was the titular draw for the festival and everyone there in the theater was definitely a fan of the movie, with quite a few folks dressed up in toques and hockey jerseys. Given that I haven't ever seen the movie in its entirety since its release in 1983, I was surprised to find it was a different film from the bits I remember catching on TV here and there over the years. It was dumb and the characters were likable and I was laughing nonstop for good parts of it, which was good for me in many ways. I really enjoyed myself and it was a stellar way to end my tumultuous week.

It's been a week of ups and downs; from some very low places at work to very high points in my writing, I feel like a yo-yo on a roller coaster. More and more I want to spend time creating and be forced to count how to someone else's tune less, especially when that kind of dance makes no use of my talents. Placing as well as I did in the AuthorQuest contest is a form of validation I welcome; while I don't want to live exclusively for validation, I can definitely use it as a stepping stone to lift myself above my daily troubles to catch a glimpse of the bright future I see for myself ahead.